Trump admin faces backlash over Georgia election office seizure

Source Domain: cyberscoop.com

Following a federal raid on Fulton County, Georgia’s Elections Office, lawmakers and state election officials sharply criticized the Trump administration, accusing the White House of chasing baseless internet conspiracy theories about fraud in the 2020 election. Officials also warned the raid could set a precedent for similar federal actions targeting the 2026 midterm elections.

According to Fulton County, federal officials seized 700 boxes of records related to the 2020 election, including physical ballots. The search warrant detailing a full list of records and evidence sought by the federal government remains sealed, however, details of the warrant were published by ProPublica Wednesday evening.

In a press conference Thursday, Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections Chair Sherri Allen said the county was already planning to hand over the information at a court hearing scheduled for early February. Meanwhile, Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts expressed concerns about ballot security now that the ballots are no longer in county custody.

At the National Association of Secretaries of State winter conference, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said the federal raid should be a reminder “this can happen any point between now and this coming November.”

He also took a shot at the Trump administration’s state voter data collection efforts and the White House’s plan to conduct voter list maintenance “at the federal level.”

“Republican and Democratic secretaries: How does that make you feel about what they think about your integrity and professionalism?” Padilla said. “Those are your offices, your staff and teams.”

Jared Borg, a White House aide at the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, gave a speech Thursday detailing how the Trump administration is repurposing the federal SAVE database as a voter citizenship verification tool. The database was historically used to track immigrant benefits, and Borg…

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